Bramble: The Mountain King Reviews
Sometimes manipulative, sometimes incoherent, this work still has the powerful power of folklore.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Bramble: The Mountain King finds ways to excel throughout the ~6-hour adventure. With superb audio design and some really satisfying and engaging storytelling centred around Nordic folklore, the game showcases glimpses of greatness and refuses to hold back from depicting the horrifying and grim world around you. It's a shame that every new enemy's introduction and build-up is undermined by the inevitable average boss fight. It's true there's obvious room for improvement with Bramble's gameplay, though the overall experience is certainly still worth uncovering, especially as the game goes from strength to strength with some seriously impactful core moments.
Bramble: The Mountain King is a beautiful, charming and disturbing interactive dark fairy tale that is undone slightly by some dated gameplay moments.
'Bramble: The Mountain King' is a puzzle platformer with a necessary dose of horror elements. This well-known concept comes with some unique additions so that the game can distinguish itself from the rest. It is very linear and has very little replay value. Nevertheless, the beautiful images, through the strong use of light, provide an experience that will leave your eyes open. A top of an indie game.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Bramble: The Mountain King is worth a single playthrough, but the lack of any real depth to its gameplay makes it a difficult recommendation to those that might not be drawn in by its gorgeous visuals and atmosphere.
A triumph of sinister mood let down by archaic puzzle design.
It's a shame Bramble: The Mountain King has such frustrating level design drawbacks because it undercuts a beautifully dark and disturbing fable. It's not doing a whole lot as a game that helps it stick out either, but the narrative structure behind it rescues it from the clutches of true disappointment.
There's a lot to like about Bramble: The Mountain King. Through its narration and fantastical environments, Dimfrost Studio does a great job at making you feel like you're taking part in an unsettling, if a little too long, fable laden with mythological creatures. The game's puzzle-platforming segments do nothing extraordinary, yet strike a nice balance between simplicity and challenge, and though the set camera and cumbersome movement can often get in the way, frequent checkpoints alleviate much of the frustration. However, depending on how much performance issues annoy you – stuttering, pop-in, frame rate drops – this is an adventure that might be best played elsewhere.